http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/debinnh/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from debinnh en-us Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:09:01 +0000 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:09:01 +0000 My last journal entry was written in FCO waiting to go home. We got off the ship at an ungodly early hour maybe 630 or so when it was still dark. I had never made contact with the people we were sharing a ride with but I knew her name and just looked for the driver that was looking for her. We got to the airport in plenty of time and we said our goodbyes to JoAnne since she was going on a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Hampshire/blog-356161.html Our last day. And as it turns out I think this was our best day. I had hired a driver for the day Mariano Fiorentino. We were going to tour Pompeii then drive to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast to Positano. I met people on CruiseCritic to share this trip with also Sandy and her husband. The day before I had asked them if they were interested in a guide for Pompeii and they said sure so I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-355962.html Finally A sea day to rest and recuperate. This itinerary would have been so much better if there was one more sea day either right before or right after Istanbul. But there wasnrsquot so I savored this one day that we had. I slept until 930 which isnrsquot real late but just enough so I felt more rested. I did the bridge tour with Rick which he got more out of than I did. The one http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-355918.html Today was not good. The government strike was on. I never heard back from my driver so I had no idea what would happen when we got off the ship. The Acropolis and other tourist sights were open. Our driver Dennis did show up to take us to Athens and show us around. But it wasnrsquot what I thought it would be. I told him we needed to get to an ATM to get Euros he said we could do it la http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-355907.html I had prearranged a tour with EKOL tours of Turkey to take us to the archaeological site of Ephesus. While chatting with people online I met up with someone who wanted to join us to help keep costs down. We met Lianda Joe Alice and Alicersquos husband at Cova Caf and we headed off the ship as soon as the gangway opened even before it was announced that we could leave the ship. We met our http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Kusadasi/blog-355897.html For my birthday JoAnne gave me a beautiful ldquoevil eyerdquo ornament that she had found at the bazaar the night before a blue glass ball with the eye on it on four sides enclosed in a silver casing. We woke up with the intention of catching an early tender to the city. But the tender people thought otherwise. They decided to wait until we were full. Then there was a woman who stood on http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-355805.html Istanbul I did not sleep well the night before convinced that something would go wrong and Istanbul would be a disappointment. It was a gray day as we approached the city our arrival time scheduled for 1pm. We had been told there was a schedule change and we would be tendering instead of docking so I hoped that meant we would drop anchor closer to the old part of the city and shorten our trip http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-350068.html I think if someone forced me to choose which island I would go back to of the three we visited I would say Santorini. It was beautiful. I loved the way the buildings were built up the side and into the side of the cliffs. We took a ship's bus tour so we got to see a little bit of the island besides Fira and Oia. The tour started with a tender ride to where we met our guide and a bus to take http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-347980.html Rhodes was not what I envisioned a Greek island to look like. We did not have specific plans today other than to check out old town. Rhodes old town is a walled in medieval city with cobblestone streets and old and restored buildings. And as a typical tourist trap lots of little shops and cafes. We had a map but the map had the names in English and the signs on the buildings with the street http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Rhodes/blog-346714.html Mykonos was beautiful. It was just what you see in pictures white washed buildings with blue roofs. What surprised me was that some of the roofs were red. We took photos as we approached the island. We had made no plans for the day so all we had to do was get off the ship and wander at our own pace. We decided to head to the windmills first. The town was built to confuse pirates with its w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/blog-346397.html This was a day to sleep in have breakfast and relax before taking on the Greek isles. Today was one of the two days I went to the breakfast buffet. They had a good selection of breads cereals fruit fresh and canned. Egg selections including scrambled an omelette station hard boiled quiche they also had bacon sausage a carving station bagel toppings of smoked fish capers and onions http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-346057.html Day three Vatican City tour then transfer to the ship. I had made arrangements with Angel Tours of Rome to have a private 4 hour tour of the Vatican museums including the Sistine chapel and St. Peters. They were then going to provide a driver to take us to the ship. I thought the driver was picking us up a the hotel but when I went to prepay 3 days before we left the US I was told that we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Civitavecchia/blog-345406.html I had hoped we would wake up early today and see a few sights before meeting JoAnne at the train but it wasn't going to happen. We were so tired. After 11 hours of sleep we got up leisurely and went to breakfast. The hotel had a nice mix of scrambled eggs sausage hard boiled eggs cereals yogurt fruit rolls and sweet croissants. Sliced meats and cheeses assorted juices and an espressoc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-343847.html HiI wrote a journal while we were on our trip so I thought I might be fun to blog the trip rather than post a review and photos separately. I hope you enjoy it. After I run out of things to say about this trip I might go back and write about others I have taken as well. Here goesBackground Me Deb now age 50. Chemist by degree currently Quality Assurance manager at a biotech company. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-343110.html